


i can finally see that you're right beside me

by goinghost



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Candy Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternatively title: I have no idea how to write flirting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 15:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2856623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goinghost/pseuds/goinghost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Welcome to Manny’s Sweets, the best, and only, candy store in town!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	i can finally see that you're right beside me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lonewolfsong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonewolfsong/gifts).



> title from 'meteor shower' by owl city! i wrote this for my friend's birthday way back last june and wow it's been a while

Hiccup was not having a good day.

It wasn’t the fact that he missed his hometown (though not terribly so. Berk was a hard place to miss), or the fact that he completely embarrassed himself in front of his cute new neighbor (though that definitely contributed), or even the fact that people had been staring at his leg, or  _lack_ of leg, everywhere he went. No, it was the fact that Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III had managed to misplace not one, but  _four_ boxes in the process of moving out; four boxes that were sitting, stacked neatly, in his bedroom.

In Norway.

Four boxes that contained all of his art supplies and collector’s edition dragon figurines and Book of Dragons were currently an ocean and a few countries out of reach. Hiccup sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets, shuffling down the street. His dad had told him to “get out and explore your new home!” So here he was, wandering around and stepping into the occasional shop. So far he had yet to find anything interesting. All he saw was a subway and a…

Wait a second, was that a candy store?

\--

Jack was having a great day.

This morning his mom had finally agreed to let him teach Emma how to ice skate later today, something he’d been meaning to do since winter set in. Not to mention his new neighbors had an adorable son that looked around his age. He’d seen him when he was getting the mail that morning, laughing good-naturedly when the other teen had tripped walking out of the house. He’d wanted to go over and befriend him, but he had disappeared shortly after that and Jack had needed to get to work.

Work meaning Manny’s Sweets, only the best store in the entire world!  Jack had had the job for about a year now and he never got tired of it. How could he? He got a steady supply of treats, a reasonable sum of money, and he met new, interesting people every day. There were the standard regulars that came in and always chatted with him before getting their usual supply of candy, but the first-timers were always the best. A candy shop attracted all kinds of different people, ranging from single moms with five kids to a band of extremely tough looking bikers that bought pounds of jelly beans to two college freshmen with dyed hair saying they were congratulating each other on their one month anniversary and also for passing all their finals. In fact, they were paying right now. Jack said goodbye to the two girls and waved as they left.

Yeah, Manny’s was incredible. This place had done so much for him in the past year and- _hopefully_ , he thought as he saw the new customer that had just walked in,  _it might even get me a date._

\--

The place was spectacular; rows upon rows of candies and treats, organized by brand and type. There were a few tables set up in the center of all the shelves, along with some chairs and an old-fashioned soda fountain, and a room off to the side seemed to have nothing but various flavors of jelly beans. Hiccup didn’t know where to start.

“Welcome to Manny’s Sweets, the best, and only, candy store in town!” A chipper voice rang out. Hiccup startled, he hadn’t noticed the register or anyone else here. Whoops. He turned to see a familiar young man’s face smiling at him.  _Really?_  Hiccup thought. This was the guy he’d completely embarrassed himself in front of this morning. He also happened to be the only attractive person he’d seen so far. He had startling blue eyes, a square jaw, and surprisingly white hair. The only thing about him that wasn’t conventionally attractive were his ears, which were a little big, but Hiccup found them endearingly cute

“Still taking it all in, huh?” Hiccup was shaken out of his stupor only to realize he’d been staring. Great now he was blushing. At least the other boy had thought he was admiring the shop and not him.

“It’s definitely…something alright,” Hiccup smiled nervously.

“Can I help you find anything?”

“Um…” Did he want anything specific? Now that he thought about it, Hiccup couldn’t remember exactly why he came inside in the first place.

The other boy-Hiccup saw that his name tag read ‘Jack’-seemed to pick up on his uncertainty, “Any favorite candies? I can almost guarantee we sell it here.”

Hiccup thought for a minute. Did he have a favorite candy? He doubted he’d find Norwegian candy in Michigan. “I don’t really-that is I’m not from.. _here_  so-,” he paused, “What would  _you_ recommend?”

Jack smiled, surprised, “Oh well if you like mint and chocolate-,” Hiccup nodded and Jack walked over to a shelf a meter or so away from Hiccup, “Try these,” he said, handing the other teen a package.

‘York’ was all it read. Hiccup smiled shakily, “Thanks, um, Jack. I guess I’ll get a couple of these.” Jack nodded and bent down by the shelf to pull a couple more out. Hiccup blushed as some of his shirt rode up and he caught sight of his stomach. Oh boy.

\--

Jack headed back towards the other boy, peppermint patties in tow. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, concerned, “You’re face is pretty red and you don’t look so good.”

He started stuttering, “N-no I’m fine, just-uh-I think I’m coming down w-with something.”

Jack nodded sympathetically, “It’s getting pretty cold out, have you been outside ever since you left your house?”

The other teen groaned, “Yeah, haven’t had anything to do. Um,” he looked at his feet, “I-it doesn’t help that my knee hurts from banging it on the sidewalk this morning.” He glanced back up at Jack, and Jack noticed the freckles covering his face. “Sorry you-uh-had to see that.”

Jack rubbed the back of his neck, “No, it’s fine. I thought it was…cute.” The other boy seemed shocked.  _Way to go Jack, you might as well have said, ‘Hey wanna be my boyfriend’,_ he thought as his face grew hot.

“Oh well o-okay,” The other boy (who Jack still didn’t know the name of) looked uncomfortable. Jack just  _had_ to open his mouth didn’t he? “Honestly I probably wouldn’t have tripped if it weren’t for this baby,” he gestured to the metal contraption that replaced his lower leg. Jack had seen it when he had left the house this morning. A curious thing to use as a prosthetic, it looked almost home-made.

“Interesting leg there,” Jack said, and almost slapped himself in the face.  _A+ flirting there, Overland, just talk about his lack of limb, why don’t you?_

But his new neighbor smiled excitedly, “Built it myself, took me a year or two to get a finalized design but definitely worth it.”

Jack was amazed, “You  _built_ this?” Adorable  _and_ talented, could Jack pick ‘em or what? Of course, they weren’t actually dating. And they had yet to go on an actual date. And Jack still didn’t know his name. Speaking of which, “That’s really impressive…”

“Hiccup,” he filled in.

“Really impressive,  _Hiccup._ Can’t say I’ve heard that name before,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. Old Viking tradition, saddle your kid with a terrible name to frighten away any monsters that might wanna take them away.” He- _Hiccup_ turned a little red.

“Vikings, huh?” As they talked, Jack walked behind the counter, tossing Hiccup’s treats down so he could ring them up.

\--

“Ha, yeah, supposedly there were quite a few in my family way back in the day. I might not look it,” Hiccup gestured to his general physique, “ but you should see my dad, he’s built like a steamroller.”

Jack eyed him playfully as he typed something on the register, “I don’t know, you look pretty tough yourself. And you already have an impressive battle scar.”

“You make it sound like I lost it because of what an epic warrior I was,” Hiccup laughed, “I was just trying to help my cat.” At Jack’s questioning look, he clarified, “Toothless, my cat, was trapped in a forest fire and I-um-ran back in to get him. Pretty stupid move, huh? But he’s okay now and I’m not dead so-.”

“I don’t think it was stupid,” Jack looked serious, staring him straight in the eye, “That sounds really brave actually.”

Hiccup looked down uncomfortably, “Yeah, well, that makes one of us.” There was an awkward moment of silence. Then he said, “Um, how much?”

“Oh! That’ll be $9.50,” Hiccup nodded and pulled out a ten from his wallet. Jack handed him his change and his bag, “Receipt’s in the bag! Have a nice day,” he called as Hiccup made his way out the door.

As he walked back down the street, Hiccup tore open one of the sweets.  _Jack was right; these do taste good!_ He dug around the bag and grabbed another, his receipt coming with it. Hiccup did a double take; there was something written on the bottom of the receipt that looked curiously like a phone number.

He smiled, he had been having a bad day, but maybe it would get better.


End file.
